Top Obamacare official apologizes for website 'debacle'

WASHINGTON Oct 30 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's top
health official apologized on
Wednesday for the botched rollout of the government's healthcare
website, acknowledging it was a "debacle", while also blaming
insurers for cancelling coverage for hundreds of thousands of
people.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius,
testifying at a congressional hearing on the troubled website at
the heart of Obama's healthcare overhaul, vowed to win back the
confidence of millions of disappointed Americans.

"Hold me accountable for the debacle. I'm responsible,"
Sebelius said in response to questions from Marsha Blackburn,
the Republican U.S. Representative of Tennessee, about who was
responsible for problems that have prevented people from signing
up for healthcare insurance plans.

Technical glitches have dogged the Healthcare.gov since its
launch on Oct. 1, preventing many people from signing up for
insurance plans. But critics of Obamacare have seized on the
hundreds of thousands of Americans due to lose their current
plans because they fail to include essential benefits required
by the law and are asking whether Obama misrepresented the law.

Sebelius, the cabinet official spearheading the
implementation of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, known as
Obamacare, drew intense criticism from Republicans including
Fred Upton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Upton accused Obama of breaking a 2009 promise that people with
insurance could keep their current plans.

"They are now receiving termination notices, and for those
who lose the coverage they like, they may also be losing faith
in their government," the Michigan Republican said.

Sebelius defended the administration by describing hundreds
of thousands who have received cancellation notices as the
victims of a market long known for discriminating against the
sick, cancelling policies and selling inadequate insurance.

"The individual market ... anywhere in the country has never
had consumer protections. People are on their own. They can be
locked out, priced out, dumped out," by insurers, Sebelius said.
Continued...